Page of the illustrated manuscript "The Illustrated Regulations for Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the Present Dynasty."

Purchased from W Wheeler & Sons. The archive file (53/2014) states that there was a note 'received with the plates' recording that the 'leaves were taken from the Imperial Library in 1861 (when it was destroyed) and brought to England by Lt Chaleners of the 15th Punjabees (Pioneers) afterwards the 23rd'. This seems to be a reference to the Wenlan Library in Hangzhou destroyed by Taiping Forces in 1861. However, there is no evidence to date that the Wenlan Library possessed one of the versions of the Illustrated Regulations. It is probable, therefore, that the date noted in the archive file is a mistake and it should be 1860 and the library referred to would thus be that in the Yuanming Yuan. This is borne out by the fact that the 15th Punjab Infantry served in the 1860 campaign (see Journal of the United Service Institution of India, 1884)

E.1787-1953